From what I have heard this summer, and based on players return-
ing from last season, Providence College and Brown should be the
favorites to win the ECAC Women's league title and or playoff
championship.  Other teams with strong squads should be Princeton,
UNH and Northeastern.  I expect that of the three newcomers to
the league, Boston College, Bowdoin and Middlebury, that BC will
make the most impact in its first year.  The last couple of year's
I have watched the Eagles develop a good base to build from.  The
Ivy League should again be dominated by Brown's high-scoring team.
However, I do expect Princeton to give them a run for the title.
In many ways I expect this season to be spectacular because many
players should be trying to impress in the hope that they will
make one of the international teams for the upcoming World
Championship and Olympics.  Below are comments from Team Canada
Women's player Andria Hunter about upcoming international events.
 
*********************************************************************
There have been 3 official IIHF sanctioned Women's World Championships
so far (1990, 1992, and 1994), so the next World Championship was to
be held in 1996.  However, since Women's hockey has been accepted into
the 1998 Winter Olympics, (as a full medal sport, for the first time),
the next World Championship may be postponed until 1997.  Here is part
of the Canadian National Women's Team Bulletin which I received from
the CAHA.  It explains why they are thinking about having the next
Women's World Championships in 1997 instead of 1996.
 
************************************************************************
CANADIAN NATIONAL WOMEN'S TEAM BULLETIN:
 
At the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) meetings in June, a
small group was asked to review women's international events.  They
came back to the council with the following proposal:
 
  1995 Pacific Rim competition: Canada, USA, China and Japan
  1996 Pacific Rim competition: Canada, USA, China and Japan
  1997 Women's World Championship
 
The rationale seems to have been that the fairest manner for teams to
qualify for the 1998 Olympic Games was through the World Championship.
In order for this to be an accurate measure, it could not take place
two years before the Olympics (i.e., not in 1996, when the next World
Championship was originally scheduled).
 
The second point was that Japan needs help in raising their standard of
play as host country and both China and Japan deserve more international
competition, hence the Pacific Rim.
 
The bidding process for the host site of the Women's World Championships
in Canada in 1997 will continue as planned with a site to be announced
this Fall.  Quebec, Ontario, BC, Alberta, and the Maritimes have each
submitted the name of a city which will be considered.
 
The Pacific Rim was to be discussed at an IIHF Council meeting in early
July, and we should know soon where and when it will be held in 1995.
 
The High Performance Plan is currently being revised to accomodate these
changes, which give us a more gradual build up to 1998.  Included in the
plan will also be a competition with Finland and possibly the USA and we
are talking to both of these countries at the moment to set up some dates.
 
====================================================================
I just found out that they are making hockey cards for the women's Team
Canada and the women's Team USA.  This is awesome - I get to have a hockey
card made of me!!!!! :-)  I'm pretty sure that this is the first complete
set of women's hockey cards that have ever been made, so this will probably
be a collector's item.  I know Manon Rheaume (Team Canada), Cammi Granato
(Team USA), and Erin Whitten (Team USA) already have hockey cards, but I
don't know of any other women who do.  They did take pictures of us at
the World Championships in 1992 for hockey cards, but for some reason
didn't end up going through with it.  I'm glad to see they decided to
go through with it after the 1994 World Championships!
 
Here is some information about the hockey cards that I just received
from the Canadian National Women's Team Bulletin:
 
**********************************************************************
HOCKEY CARDS:
 
According to Steve Charendoff of Scoreboard, they will be producing a
hockey card of each and every player on the Canadian and US teams this
September.  The pictures which were taken at the 1994 Women's World
Championships in Lake Placid (April 11-17 1994) will be used for the
cards.
 
Our cards will be on gold foil board with a shadow of the Canadian flag
in the background and the Americans on silver foil board.  We will have
an action shot on the front and a casual shot on the back.  There will
be a writeup for each player on the back of the cards.
 
************************************************************************
 
I think the casual shot on the back of the Team Canada cards will be a
picture of each of us playing some other sport.  During the week of the
World Championships (in Lake Placid), a photographer came to the gym at
the Olympic Training Centre in Lake Placid where we were staying, and
took the pictures of us doing various sports.  My picture is of me
juggling a soccer ball.  Some of the other players were doing things
like roller blading, basketball, or pretending to ride on a bobsled or
luge.  For you Manon fans out there, look for a picture of Manon spiking
a volleyball! ;-)
*************************************************************************
back to rhun:
The idea of using the WWC as a stepping stone to the Olympics does
not appeal to me.  I like the idea of an international competition
every two years (WWC - Olympics).  Each has its own feeling.  The
Olympics tends to be one big circus, while a world championship
really focuses on a given sport well.  I can understand the desire
for promotion, but in the end I feel it fails and can hurt a sport.
The Pacific Rim idea will be good for the teams to check out the
ice in Japan (assuming they will play it there at least once).
It will help Japan and China a lot.  I think an Atlantic Rim
tourney would be a good idea too, because the real competition
is from Finland and Sweden.  Still, word has it that China is
taking women's ice hockey very seriously.  Supposedly there are
150 women who are in a program where they live and train together
all year.  They take classes in the morning and are on the ice
in the afternoon.  It does explain their improved play in WWC94.
 
I also understand that now that women's ice hockey is an Olympic
sport that in Canada 40 players will start to get money to help
out with training etc.  Oh my God, money for women's sport!!!
Considering the number of sacrifices many of these women make
to play their sport with no chance of ever making the big bucks
right now, that is a great idea.
 
I am looking forward to the hockey cards.  Sounds like the CAHA
and maybe USA Hockey are finally starting to move a little.  I
would have to say, up until now it has been very difficult to
get information/stuff out of either of them.
 
 _____________
/
 good shooting
 rhun
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